Illustration of Kraken Attacking Boat, ca. 1801

In 1801, Pierre Denys de Montfort proposed the idea that the legends of the Norwegian kraken might have been based on a giant octopus; this is an illustration from his book showing a giant octopus pulling a boat down, which he stated was something that kraken supposedly did (it wasn't).

Illustration from Histoire naturelle, générale et particuliere des Mollusques, Volume 2, by Pierre Denys de Montfort, 1801 [Link Here - between Pgs. 256-257].